Triangle Beaters

Introduction: Triangle Beaters

A decent set of various sized triangle beaters runs around $70 bucks. Here, I'll show you how you can make excellent sounding triangle beaters starting around $20.

Materials:
~Long drill bits AND/OR Metal rods, various materials
~Plasti Dip
~Dremel or something to cut the rods/bits
~Sticky tape (masking, duct, gaffers, whatever)
~A place to hang beaters
~Newspaper or other covering for the floor to catch plasti-dip drips
~Measuring tape
~Magic marker
~Graph making tape (optional)
Look in the drill bits aisle, and then in the aisle where the re-rod is, there is usually a station somewhere near with metal rods of many different diameters and compounds.

Step 1: Materials

Here are pictures of the "raw" materials. Long drill bits and we chose brass and aluminum rods.

Step 2: Measure.

We chose to use a few different lengths. Between 8-10 inches works well, with my personal preference being around 9 inches. The drill bits were measured to around 10 and marked with a magic marker where we would cut. The brass rods were measured to 9 inches.

Note: the grooves on the drill bit are going to be the bottom of your beater. If you wanted you could probably cut off the grooves too, but we like them this way.

Step 3: Cut.

We used a dremel with cutting discs. This would have been easier perhaps with a table saw, but that would be more dangerous than this. In the 3rd picture you will see we used vise grips which were a good way to stabilize the rods while we cut them with the dremel. An actual vise would have been ideal.

Step 4: File the Top Edge

File the "top" side of your beater so that the edges are somewhat smooth, not sharp.

Step 5: Dip It.

Get out your can of plasti-dip! This is the fun part. Lower the "bottom" side of your beater into the dip, as far as you want. We generally went down about a third, but this is personal preference. We "eye-balled" how far we dipped each beater.

You may want to dip each beater twice. Dip it once, then *immediately* dip it again...just long enough to pull it out then lower it again. This can provide a better coating. If you wait too long between dips it will get gummy.

When pulling the beater out all the way, give it a little twist to bring the plast-dip to a point on the bottom.

You can find plasti-dip in the paint section.

Step 6: Hang 'em.

You can hang them any way you want. If I do another batch of them I will not tape them up against anything, I would tape each beater on both sides, and would have had more support in the middle.

There are definitely a ton of ways to hang these. What is most important is that you do is somewhere that allows for the plast-dip to drip. It will not drip a lot, but enough to ruin your carpet. It is also important they are secure because if they fall it will mess up the coating. Follow the direction on your can for how long the plasti-dip needs to set up (letting them cure for a day works).

Putting newspaper or something else on the floor to catch the drips is a good idea.

Step 7: Optional: Tape the Tops of the Plastic.

This step is totally optional, but really makes the beaters "pop" and look like the real deal. Using a little bit of graph making tape, just wrap a little around the tops of the plastic.

Also optional is polishing the exposed metal of the beater.

Step 8: Finished!

I hope this will save you a LOT of money (or at least 50 bucks or so!) This will also allow you a much more versatile set of beaters. I hope this helps, and thank you for reading my first Instructable!